[ RAINBOW BASEBALL ]
Rainbows face
HPU tomorrow
The Hawaii Rainbow baseball team plays a nonconference game tomorrow night against Hawaii Pacific, a makeup of the game that was rained out March 13.
Steven Wright will start for UH. The freshman right-hander is 2-1 with a 5.81 earned-run average. He has struck out 15 and walked 11 in 26 1/3 innings.
HPU coach Allan Sato plans to use four pitchers who have been starters this year, left-handers Kai Austin and Cruz Hatanaka and right-handers Sean Paiva and Josh Irvin.
HPU at Hawaii
When: Tomorrow, 6:35 p.m. Hawaii timeWhere: Murakami Stadium
TV: Live, KFVE, Ch. 5
Radio: Live, KKEA 1420-AM
Parking: $3
This game marks the end of the season for the Sea Warriors (27-26). Sato is pleased with the season his players put together.
"This year's team, playing the schedule it did, will be valuable to us in the future. Our key players are still young. We didn't know if even 20 wins was attainable when we started the season," said Sato, in his ninth season at his alma mater.
The Sea Warriors scheduled the maximum 56 games for the first time this year and will end up playing 54. The schedule included the usual solid California opponents and a series against defending national NCAA Division II champion Tampa.
"We did battle. We stayed in almost every game and it was encouraging to see this," said Sato.
This is the final midweek home game for the Rainbows (26-16). They have two Western Athletic Conference series left at Murakami Stadium -- Rice this weekend and Fresno State the following weekend.
UH coach Mike Trapasso's biggest concern is the Rainbows' thin bullpen.
Closer Darrell Fisherbaugh did not pitch in the Nevada series due to stiffness in his right shoulder. However, the freshman right-hander threw bullpen Saturday and told Trapasso he felt much better. He will not pitch against HPU, but hopefully will be ready for the Rice series.
In the loss to Nevada on Saturday, Chuck Withers, a junior right-hander, pitched two scoreless innings with four strikeouts, and Kaimi Mead, a freshman left-hander, threw one scoreless inning with two strikeouts. This was the first game action either one had seen in more than a month.
Fans can use ticket stubs from the March 13 game or rain-check vouchers they received leaving Murakami Stadium that night for tomorrow's game.
Notes: The Rainbows and Sea Warriors have played 26 games, with UH leading the series 24-2. ... Earlier this year, the Rainbows beat HPU 10-2.